Postcards from Old Palma, Mallorca

I don’t know how I’d never made it to Palma before now. Wonderful tales of Mallorcan life have been reaching my ears for years, many imparted with passion by people who return year after year for just a bit more of what this picturesque Mediterranean isle has to offer. On this, my first visit, three generations of family shared self-catering accommodation just outside Palma. Some weeks later we’re still reliving it and reading as much as we can about the island.

Here’s a taste of Palma’s Old Town, the focus of which is undoubtably the Catedral. It’s like a Titanic of ecclesiastical architecture – an absolute behemoth on the Palma skyline.

Off the Carrer d’En Morei, a narrow street running away from the back of the Catedral towards the Plaça de Santa Eulàlia, we peeked into inner courtyards – this one belonging to a hotel but others the sanctuary of local folk.

Horse-drawn carriages wend their way around Old Palma offering visitors a quaint, if slightly kitsch, way to see the town.

In the Plaça de la Cort there’s an olive tree so gnarled and ancient that it definitely shows it’s been eight hundred or so years on the planet.

Many shops sell Mallorcan delicacies: from dried sausage and flavoured oils to the popular ensaimadas – large, spiral-shaped pastries filled with sweet cream or marmalade, almond paste or a host of other sweet surprises. I was particularly drawn to the Aladdin’s Cave frontage of this little store of Mallorcan produce.

A close up of the little mannequin for you:

Another glimpse behind a pair of old gates:

And lastly, our view back at base after a hard day on our feet. Time to kick back with a chilly glass of blanco.